Experimental Film
by Radioactive
Summary: The story of the life of Rondell, from the beginning of the video to the end. Much weirder, but I hope you like it.
1. Part 1: Rondell

**Obligatory disclaimer****: I do not own this HSR; I do not own it in a car. I do not own the characters; not Bubs, StrongMad or the teenage girls. I will not own this site, no man; I do not own it, Sam-I-Am.**

**Disclaimer **(diss-CLAIM-er) _n._ A bunch of words telling you to do things you already know not to do. I.E.: _Don't tape record this thing or else the FBI'll bust your kneecaps._

Okay...sorry...on to the non-funny part.

* * *

Our story starts out with four glasses of coffee—dark, light, cream, and a cappuccino. They were on the table of a man named Rondell. 

Rondell was a large lump of a man. He always wore pretty much the same thing—a faded grey sweatshirt, dark yet faded grey sweatpants, cracked running shoes caked in a layer of grime. He had squinty grey eyes, and deeply pale skin, which often shimmered under the dim light of the single lightbulb hanging on the ceiling in his apartment building.

Rondell was a very lonely individual. Even though he did have a few friends, they didn't like him much. They always told him that he seemed ill at ease. He was actually ill at ease, and this was because he didn't know what he was ill at ease about. He always felt like he could never deal with the decisions of day to day life, and this was because he was so depressed and lonely. A good example was this day.

His squinty eyes shimmered and waved back and forth like made of liquid—or at least, that's what it looked like, seeing as he was looking through a glass of water.  
His mind focused in on the glass of water—the rippling waves slowly rolling over the surface, so small they were nearly undetectable, as the shapes of everything on the other side of the glass swirled around like a Van Gogh painting.  
But Rondell didn't focus on the images behind the water; he focused on the water itself. It was not any actual colour, but a mixture of all the colours. But it was not white—or any colour—it was a new colour. It was the colour of infinity.

He couldn't decide what to drink. Dark coffee, light coffee, cream coffee, a cappuccino, or a glass of water. They were all quite good drinks, but he didn't know which one to have, which made him quite confused. He also found that he had bought all the drinks instead of just thinking it over in his head. This confused him even more. He also found that since he didn't have time to drink all the drinks, and he only had time to drink one, when he got back, he would still have four drinks left, all of them having gone bad. This confused him even more. He also found that he had wasted all this time wondering which one to drink. This confused him even more. And all this confusion weighed down on him in his mind, and he felt it was too much to comprehend.  
He suddenly felt the ultimate loneliness of life as the decisions of day to day life came crashing down on him.  
And this was only breakfast.

* * *

Rondell reached down and pressed one of the buttons on the dashboard.  
Rondell's eyes flickered as the glowing letters flashed across the screen of the ATM, and he felt as if laser radiation was shooting into his retinas. 

CHECK BALANCE?  
CHECK BALANCE?

Rondell squinted his eyes.  
He turned to his side and saw a roll of tape flying through the air. It was a strip of film tape, and on the other side of the tape was just white space, like he was just the image on a roll of film, and beyond the edge of the strip was nothing, coming up as white space on the projector. He watched the tape for a few seconds.  
_Just the hallucinations_, he thought.  
Andthen he turned back to the ATM.

CHECK BALANCE?  
CHECK BALANCE?  
CHECK BALANCE?


	2. Part 2: The Film

The lightbulb slowly swung back and forth, caught in a draft from the wall.  
Rondell pulled the camcorder down from the lightbulb and focused it on the mirror.

He was an independent filmmaker, and he was filming his latest film, which he simply called _Experimental Film_. His latest film didn't have a story yet, but lately, he had been having strange hallucinations (one of them being the film tape at the ATM), each one somehow giving him a message about his film, and what it should be about.

Rondell looked through the camera at the mirror.  
The mirror that covered the medicine cabinet which contained the medication that Rondell hadn't taken for weeks. His Ritalin, his Zoloft, his Prozac, his Clozaril, even his Asprin. That time was when his hallucinations had started becoming more frequent, and more distinctive, like they were telling him a message.

The message that convinced him to stop taking his medication. It was also one that told him to make a new movie called _Experimental Film_. The hallucinations would sort out what it was going to be about.

The image of himself on the mirror reflected onto the camera lens, which reflected onto the mirror, which reflected onto the lens, which reflected onto the mirror, and the image on Rondell pretty much hit Rondell's eyes an un-ending amount of times, making it his second experience with infinity in that day.

* * *

And then a wave of colour fell over him—a strange, dream-like image, but the entire thing wasn't real, it was drawn in cartoon, which helped him remember it wasn't real. It was the strange hallucinations he had been seeing. 

It was the image of a football field. A strange thing was riding across the field: a skull with green tentacles coming out of it, riding a penny-farthing. There were dozens of fans filling the bleachers holding up signs, and when all put together, they formed the word YEAH. And then the signs were flipped over to the other side to form the image of a cup of coffee. And then, somehow, they flipped over to the other side not to form YEAH but to form a drawing of a mountain range behind a lake, with several spruce trees scattered about.  
And then Rondell found himself in the cartoon mountain range, two men standing in front of him.  
"Yeah," said the first one.  
"Film," said the second one.  
They were talking about the film he was making. Before he could ask them what they meant, Rondell found himself gone again.  
And then there was a flash of colours. Rondell found himself looking at the strangest image yet; a line of psychedelic-coloured cowboys, standing behind a green donkey wearing a red banner over its back reading YEAH!

* * *

Rondell found himself back at the ATM. 

CHECK BALANCE?  
CHECK BALANCE?  
CHECK BALANCE?

Suddenly, another hallucination. Rondell found himself in a cartoon arctic, a huge chunk of icy ground lying jagged across the frigid water. And then a row of 16 ATM's suddenly appeared on the ice out of nowhere. There was a single letter on each one of them, spelling out a message to him. The message that confused, tormented and haunted him.

EXPERIMENTALFILM


	3. Part 3: Hallucinations

Later, Rondell reached up with his razor to his face, and he paused to reflect on the image he had seen earlier of the ATM's, and what it could mean. All of his hallucinations lately hadn't had messages. They made just been his film's name, or the word "yeah." But he knew he had to be patient.

He sighed deeply and dropped his arms and the razor to his side.

* * *

After washing the shaving cream off his face, Rondell walked outside to get some fresh air. 

The strips of film tape were back, scrolling through the air, coming from and going to nowhere. He had yet to discover what this image meant.

Rondell looked up suddenly, as a chill went through him.  
The Grim Reaper was there, glaring back at him. Under his black shadowy hood, Rondell could see that Death looked exactly like him.  
But Death had no business with Rondell. His life was cold and lonely and tormented, but it was not nearing its end.  
Rondell and the Grim Reaper regarded each other for a moment, both of them with nothing to say. Rondell shivered.

Another hallucination came to him.  
It was a man glaring back at him. It was a strange face, his eyes bloodshot and cold, his face dirty and unshaven with a messy goatee around his mouth. The man was not there himself; it was a painting of the man. Under the painting, Rondell saw a caption reading "Our Gracious Host." Rondell examined the man again, and saw that his mouth was hanging open, and a wave of confusion washed over his eyes, as if he didn't understand why everyone was afraid of him. The man in the painting turned around, to hide his face from Rondell.

With a flash, Rondell saw a kitchen table. On the kitchen table was a single blueberry muffin and a plant in a pot, which was nothing more than a few branches poking out of the earth.  
Rondell saw the entire day flash before his eyes, as the sun came from the left of the window beside the table and quickly fall to the right, as the sky changed from the bright green-blue of midday to the orange-brown of sunset to the red-orange of twilight. And he saw the branches of the plant grow and grown, until a flower bud opened up and bloomed into a beautiful daisy. And he saw the shadow of the blueberry muffin stretch across the table, get longer and longer as the day went by. The image stopped during twilight, right before the day ended.

* * *

And then Rondell found himself back outside. The Grim Reaper was gone.  
He looked down at his hands. His palms were cracked, like they were made out of stone. He looked down and saw, to his horror, dozens and dozens of ants crawling out of his hands. He screamed in fear. 

Luckily, this frightening image was replaced by another hallucination (even though he wasn't sure if the ants were a hallucination or real). He found himself staring at a wall covered in plaster tiles, each one of them a different colour. And hanging in the air in front of the wall was a globe, spinning around in the air by itself. But the land on the globe was not in the shape of any land on Earth. It was in the shape of a dinosaur. It was an allusion to an independant, or, as some would call it, "experimental" film, he had seen years ago. He got the message.

* * *

And then Rondell found himself back at the ATM, but both him and it were waist-deep in water, coming seemingly from nowhere. The lightbulb from his apartment was hanging in the air, swinging back and forth like a wrecking ball. He shut his eyes and waited for it to stop. 


	4. Part 4: The ATM

The ATM disappeared. Rondell found himself looking at a piece of paper with POP QUIZ written at the top. Rondell looked at what was written on the paper.

1.) YEAH!  
2.) THE COTTON GIN  
3.) APPOMATTOX  
4.) 755

YEAH! was highlighted. A+ was written in red pen at the top of the page, signallising to him that he must pay attention to this word.

And then Rondell was back at the ATM, but it was giving him the same message all the other hallucinations had given him, flashing over and over.

YEAH!  
YEAH!

These words were replaced by a picture of a lion wearing a beanie cap.

IT'S A LION!  
IT'S A LION!  
IT'S A LION!  
IT'S A LION!

This, he expected, was just a nonsense hallucination; despite the fact that these were very uncommon.

The piece of paper appeared again, the word YEAH! on it, faded and erased, eraser scraps covered around it. The image of the tentacle-skull riding the penny-farthing appeared once more, drawn on the page, yet still moving across it, animatley.

* * *

Rondell staggered backwards.  
He looked up. He was in his apartment, the lightbulb swinging back and forth above his head, his shadow dancing across the room, as a single cockroach crawled up the wall.  
And then the wall opened up, and Rondell could see the football field inside his apartment, the fans in the bleachers holding up their signs once more. 

YEAH

And they flipped again, to show the picture of the tentacle-skull riding across the signs. And they flipped once more to show a giant olive on their third side.

The field had disappeared. Rondell, wondering what was happening, ran outside, looking for the ATM once more, knowing that it was somehow trying to tell him something.

One of his friends was there, pressing random buttons as if it was a video game.  
Rondell ran up to his friend and shouted at him to go away, knowing he might have broken the ATM's message. The friend ran away.  
Rondell suddenly turned to his side, to see the Grim Reaper was standing in front of him once more. His cold image was almost familiar since its last visit.  
His friend came up to him again and tried to talk to him, but Rondell angrily shouted at him to leave him alone.

After his friend left, Rondell looked behind the Grim Reaper to see twoother peopleat the ATM. Vandals. If his friend hadn't broken it, these two sure were. They were holding it upside down and shaking it violently, as wads of cash fell out of it. They were robbing it...destroying it...  
Rondell yelled at them even louder.

_Gah!_ thought the first one. _It's the schizo!_  
The two of them exchanged a facial agreement to run.

The dropped to ATM to the ground, no doubt damaging it more.  
Rondell awave of resentment washed through him.

Just then, a disconcerting chill echoed across the wind, unnoticed by all but one.  
Something was coming.


	5. Part 5: Collision

The ATM was suddenly surrounded by walls, and Rondell found himself inside. But it was not a hallucination. It was real.  
The two men from the mountain range were there. They looked up and watched a clock slowly tick away the seconds. They said nothing to him. They were just there to signify that it was only a matter of time. To what, Rondell did not know.

And then Rondell found himself outside. The ATM was gone. The Grim Reaper was gone. Everything but him was gone. Everything but him and the film reel rushing past him.

But what happens if film goes too fast? It heats up, and it dissolves. But what if you're part of the film? This is a question only Rondell can answer, because this then happened to him. And when it did, his mind opened up, and everything become clear for a fleeting moment.

And Rondell, as his mind opened up to the universe, felt himself become a new man.

* * *

And then he was back in his apartment, in his bathroom, looking in the mirror, his face covered in shaving cream and a razor in his hand. He shaved away a strip of shaving cream, his mind perfectly clear, his hallucinations no longer in his mind, but around him at all times, no longer imaginary.  
And he walked outside past the ATM and saw the strip of film tape rushing through the air. He followed it with his eyes for a few seconds, and he looked past it, he looked to the strip of empty white space appearing on a projector. And then he jumped forward, and he flew past the film reel and into the empty space, and he felt himself fall through the air; out of the air; out of the real world and out of his hallucinations. 

He felt himself falling past all the images of the ATM and its strange messages. And he fell past his three friends, all of them happily dancing to a song Rondell couldn't hear, not seeing him, not understanding what was happening.

And he fell past a computer keyboard that's letters were not in the normal order—the Y, E, A and H were all next to each other. A finger reached out and pressed all of them in that order.

And he fell and fell, through an almost infinite amount of space—his third encounter with infinity. And he fell and fell until he hit the football field face-first.  
The fans in the bleachers held up their signs, forming the words IT'S A LION.

And then the ATM was surrounded by water again, and the finger reached out of the water as the filmstrip rushed by. But Rondell was not there to shiver in the cold water. He flew past it.

Rondell watched this until he found himself at the football field, in the desert, as the ATM, in cartoon like his hallucinations, charged at him in a football helmet over and over.

But he fell from the ATM, inthe real world,and landed in the football field, inhis hallucinations, and these two placesacted as a bridge between the hallucinations and reality, and reality and fantasy experienced a collosal collision.  
Rondell was with the two cartoon men at the mountain range when this happened. He jumped up in the air, and so did the two men. And then the Grim Reaper jumped up in the air, and so did the tentacle-skull, and the ATM from all his hallucinations (which he now suspected weren't hallucinations after all), cartoon like all the others, jumped in the air and the real ATM jumped in the air, and the cups of coffee and water at Rondell's house jumped up in the air, and finally, Rondell ran up to the ATM.

And he ran past one of his friends, who was dancing back and forth, repeated the words, "Real smooth moves!"

And Rondell pressed a button on the ATM, aiming to do the one thing he had been trying to do for days—make a simple withdrawel. And he pressed the button, and his credit card was scanned by the ATM, and suddenly, he realised the meaning of all the strange things that had been happening to him up to this point.

There was a single word on the screen of the ATM, learing back at him.

YEAH!

It was whatever was causing...controlling...his hallucinations. They had brought him here, to this ATM.

And then, his money did come, in the form of dozens and dozens of bags of coins, falling from the sky, falling straight on top of him, and Rondell was knocked to the ground, as the bags of money began to block of his air supply, and Rondell felt himself begin to suffocate.

And just as his life slipped away from him, he saw his camcorder fall from the sky like the bags of money, and the camera was already turned on when it fell in front of him, the lens facing forward, the eyepiece right in front of him, recording everything Rondell saw.

And what he saw was the kitchen table, as the image appeared once more, to show no message other than the metaphor of Rondell's true meaning. And Rondell could see the metaphor, as the sun journeyed past the window, and day turned to night, and the plant's flowed bloomed, and shadow of the blueberry muffin finally reached the end of the table, Rondell could see that the day, among other things, had finally come to its end…

And then the camcorder clicked off, nothing left of these events but the tape in the camera. The tape of the _Experimental Film._


End file.
